


Underdog

by Pinnacle of Failure (Cromirn)



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fluff, Gen, How Do I Tag, Humor, Just about everyone is alive, Naruto is a Little Shit, Neji is a bastard, Orochimaru didnt get his grubby hands on Kimimaro, Sakura is a kiri native, did the uchiha massacre happen? who knows
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-12 22:14:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28642776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cromirn/pseuds/Pinnacle%20of%20Failure
Summary: UnderdogOr the one where Sakura shames the Hyuuga clan in one move and now she has to tell her teammates of her betrothed in Kirigakure.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Kimimaro
Comments: 1
Kudos: 39





	Underdog

**Author's Note:**

> ill /probably/ continue this, but theres no definitive answer to any 'will this be continued' questions. it wasn't supposed to get this long because it was prompt-based for this one discord server I'm in, but I've always wanted to see a fic where sakura is betrothed to someone and absolutely nobody can do shit about it cause of whatever reason and this fitted the bill.

Sakura has always been smart, he knew this. Too smart for her own good. He wonders what things would be like had the world been different.

She makes it to the final tournament with the Konoha hitai-ate, the stadium roaring with good-felt heartedness and a twinge of competitive something that can’t be described. He sits there, his Kiri hitai-ate tied loosely on his obi-like belt, his clan emblem stark red against his monotonous white and silver kimono top.

She is assigned to fight against some other no-name Konoha Genin. He’s of the Hyuuga clan, their kekkei genkai a rival for his own. He is just as distant and cold-hearted as him, but this Neji boy holds no respect for the people around him. He watches as Neji belittles Sakura for her ‘civilian’ background, for her immigrant family, for her large forehead and all of these little, inconvenient things that do not matter in the makings of a great shinobi. He also watches as Sakura verbally ‘tears him a new one’, as she’d so eloquently say to him, her insults little in how they hit but vast in quantity and rate of how they leave her lips.

Neji looks disgusted, but that’s only a glimpse of what she can do.

Soon, they do engage in a fight, but Neji outclasses Sakura in almost every field. He’s fast, strong, calculating, fierce. He bullies her around, and she’s weak to his attacks, folding into his hits like she’s nothing more than a strawman in target practice, like she’s a water balloon caving in being poked. 

It’s all Hatake's fault, he muses, Sakura has an untouched potential that apparently no one else sees.

Sakura locks against the Hyuuga with a comically slow kick, jutting her heel so far out that Neji takes the opportunity to grab her by the ankle and swing her the other direction, and Sakura’s lithe fingers brush against his shoulder, his hair, using her elbow to propel her further from him, kicking up dust as she does so.

The Hyuuga mocks her, and she laughs. He mocks her for that, too, and she clutches her stomach as her face turns red as she makes ground between them. Her fingers curl into a release seal, and she hoots a _‘See ya!’_

The stadium erupts into a bright light, the Hyuuga boy being the center of it. His screams are cut short from the sudden popping, and a quick spark to ignite the flames.

Kimimaro stares down at them all, remembering the way she’d allow Neji to strike her, and how all of those steps they’d taken together was only a distraction.

The Hyuuga might be fast, strong, calculating, fierce, but he isn’t _Sakura_.

In Kiri, she would have been a _prize_ to be won. She is an underdog for every sense of the word, she had made her weakness into a tool and turned the tables so hard she’d made herself victorious in a game with all the odds against her.

For the first time in a long time, Kimimaro smiles.

~~~

Later in the day, he finds her. She might not remember him like he does her, but he knows she will know who he is. She is with the Uchiha, his fight almost killing him as he’d been forced against the ichibi’s jinchuuriki, Gaara. The Uchiha lounges in a cot, the room empty as he scowls at his teammates.

“You did such a great job against him, Sasuke!” She croons, “You’ve really gotten stronger since the preliminaries!”

“Yea!” Boists the blond one, shoving a fist in the air as he jumps onto the bed, the smell of fresh cut flowers and linen washing over Kimimaro as he further opens the door, “When you did the bah-bah POW!! And he fell and you kept on him and-”

“What do you want?” The Uchiha snaps at Kimimaro, thoroughly ignoring his teammates. Sakura looks at him with recognition in her gaze, and a grin splits her face as she leaps away from the Uchiha and towards him.

“Kimi-kun!” She squeals, her arms open as she takes him into a surprisingly tight hug. “I didn’t know you were here for the exams! I would’ve brought a gift had I known.”

“It has been years, Sakura-chan, I wouldn’t have expected anything to see you.” He says, placing a gentle hand on the top of her hand, her eyes crinkling as her smile grows, “Watching you fight was enough of a gift.”

She leaves his embrace, red dusting her cheeks, “Oh, that? Well, Neji is still getting promoted, so I don’t think it was much of a sight to see. You noticed what I did, though, right?”

“The Hyuuga is color-blind, I doubt he’ll notice that his rank does not signify his strength,” Kimimaro says, adjusting the hitai-ate on top of her head before allowing his hands to drop to his sides, “He is deluded. Shinobi like that do not last long.”

“Saku-chan, who the hell’s this guy?!” Naruto shouts, scrambling away from the Uchiha and placing himself in front of Sakura, his stance wide and arms crossed, puffing his chest up as if that will make him look intimidating, “He looks like he eats pure salt in the morning! I mean, who else has white hair? Are you related? He has green eyes like you, and I know that eye color is genetic. Shikamaru has the same eyes as his father, and so does Ino, and so does Hinata. You know, I think every clan kid has the same eyes as their parents. Does that mean they’re inbred? I learned that as well where-”

“Naruto,” she snarls, pinching him by the cheek and pulling him down, “shut up.”

“ _Ohhh_ ,” his ridiculously blue eyes gleam, ignoring that she’s got him by the face, “You _are_ related. Or are you _dating_? Is it a thing to like people ‘cause of eye color? I never thought of that!”

“Just shut _up_ , Naruto,” Sasuke hisses, narrowing his eyes as he scrutinizes Kimimaro, even if his figure is mostly obscured by Sakura who still stands in front of him, “Sakura, who the hell is this guy? Why is he here?”

Sakura opens her mouth to speak, but Kimimaro speaks over her, “I am Kaguya Kimimaro, jonin of Kirigakure. I am here to speak to Sakura regarding her citizenship with Konoha.”

“Her _citizenship_ -” Sasuke bites out, the stress lines premature on his face deepening as he scowls at Kimimaro, “What the hell does that mean? Why does _he_ of all people, a _kiri-nin_ , need to know your status, Sakura?”

Sakura looks away, biting her lip as she takes a step back from Kimimaro. "We should take this somewhere else," she tells him, "I don't want my teammates to know right away."

“Sakura,” Sasuke says as if he’s a parent and his child has done something stupid, his voice with a tilt to it that can only be perceived as threatening. “What’s going on.”

“Yea, Saku-chan, what’s this guy's business with you anyways? He doesn’t look impressive!”

Sakura groans as she presses a hand to her nose, “We were betrothed before my family fled from the Bloody Mist.”

Sasuke has the dignity to look appalled, while Naruto screeches, “Betrothed!?!”

“Yes, now _shut up_ , I don’t need anyone else to know. God, if Ino finds out about this I’m _dead_.”

“I wasn’t aware it was a norm for Konoha genin to participate so freely in murder,” Kimimaro says, and _maybe_ his shoulders tenses, and _maybe_ he considers bringing Sakura back to Kirigakure where it _may_ be safer.

“How the hell is this possible!” Sasuke snaps, his voice ragged, throwing his hands up in exacerbation, “That doesn’t even sound legal. How were you able to leave Kiri if you’re betrothed? How is he able to demand your status inside of Konoha if you’ve already left Kiri? How is _any_ of this possible with Kiri’s shaky relationship with us?”

“Sasuke…” Sakura says with a sigh, “I- I don’t know, honestly, but this can’t be all that bad, can it?”

“This does not sound legal, at all. Do you need a lawyer? I can help you with finding a good lawyer.” He states as if she’ll comply with him, like Kimimaro hasn’t already been in contact with her via letters for a whole year now, like _she_ wasn’t the one to reach out to him after their first mission outside of Fire.

“I’ll be fine without that, Sasuke-kun, please don’t worry about me. I appreciate the offer, though,” Sakura replies, stepping closer to Kimimaro and taking his hand into her warm ones, “I’ll talk to Kimimaro first. Whatever we decide upon I’ll tell you the moment I find you.”


End file.
